Latin Online

Lesson 2

Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum

This selection is taken from Book 2, Section 10 of Livy's history. It deals with an episode in the struggle
of the Romans to maintain themselves. Aeneas is assumed to have landed in Latium shortly before 750 B.C.
In the following 250 years the Romans maintained themselves, but had conflicts with other peoples, especially
the Etruscans.

Reading and Textual Analysis

The Etruscans were at the gates of Rome in 503, and set out to enter the city over a bridge across the
Tiber River. The Romans retreated over it into the city and set out to destroy it. While they were doing so,
it was defended by three men. Horatius Cocles asked the two others to withdraw as well and then held off the
Etruscans by himself until the bridge was destroyed. He then plunged into the river and swam across in full
armor. The episode was greatly celebrated. It formed the topic of the poem on Horatius in Thomas Babingdon
Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome of 1842. (A passage after the sentence ending in pontis was omitted,
to avoid undue length of this selection.)

Translation

When the enemies appeared, the Romans withdrew, everyone for himself, from the fields into the city,
and they surrounded the city itself with guards. Some parts seemed to be secure by their walls, others
by the Tiber in front of them. The bridge resting on piles almost provided a way in to the enemies, if
there had not been one man, Horatius Cocles. He was the defense on the day that the fortune of the city
of Rome depended. He by chance was placed on guard of the bridge. ... Then darting around fierce
glances threateningly at the chiefs of the Etruscans, he now challenged them individually, now rebuked
all of them as servants of haughty kings heedless of their own liberty who were coming to overthrow that
of others. They hesitated for a while -- one looked after the other that they might begin the battle. Then
they moved the line of battle, and with a haughty shout they threw their spears from all sides at a single
enemy. When these all struck on his opposing shield, he no less obstinately held the bridge with great
dispatch. Just as they tried to dislodge him by a charge, at the same time the crash of the falling bridge
and the shouting of the Roman elated with delight at the completed work checked the charge with sudden
dread. Then Cocles said: "Father Tiber, I pray you, oh holy one, that you receive these arms and this
soldier with a propitious stream." In the manner armed as he was, he jumped down into the Tiber, and
unharmed by the falling spears he swam across to his own. He had dared to perform a deed that would have
more favor than belief among future generations.

Grammar

6. Historical Present.

The historical present, also known as the dramatic present, refers to use of the present tense with past
meaning. As the alternate designation indicates, it may be found where the author seeks to accentuate a
statement. Used in older English literature, as by Shakespeare, it now is pretty well restricted to popular
narration, as when a narrator uses sequences like "an' then he says...." Instances are found in these
selections, such as adfirmat, condunt, and appellat in the first unit, adessent,
demigrant, and saepiunt in the second; these forms in the first sentence of the second
selection were clearly used to reflect the dangerous situation for the Romans. Infinitives may be used
similarly, e.g. evocāre and quaerere in the first unit.

7. The subjunctive.

Beside the indicative mood, which expresses certainty, subjunctive mood forms are found for the present,
the preterite, the perfect, and the pluperfect, active and passive. As a general characteristic, the
subjunctive forms indicate uncertainty. In keeping with this meaning, they are used in many subordinate
clauses introduced by conjunctions and pronouns. A typical use is found in the first sentence of this
selection, cum hostēs adessent..., and also in the first sentence of the initial unit,
cum ... constitissent.... The uncertainty is greater in the second sentence of that unit, where a
question is asked: quī mortalēs essent and at its conclusion exissent. A use without conjunction
is found in the prayer of Horatius to the Tiber: precor ... accipiās 'I ask that you accept.'
As in this translation, subjunctive forms may correspond to English sentences that express fact, but
often they are best represented by modal auxiliaries.

In the identification of verbal forms of these texts, those in the indicative are not especially so noted.

8. The third declension of nouns.

While nouns of the first and second declensions have bases ending in vowels and are accordingly regular,
those of the third conjugation end in consonants or -i, with a possible consequent modification of the base
in some forms. An example is the word for king, rex, which has a base ending in -g; when the
nominative ending -s is added, the -g- is devoiced, and the two sounds are represented by -x.
When the ending begins with a vowel, however, the base is unmodified, as in the genitive regis. Other
modifications of bases may be determined from dictionary entries, which typically provide the genitive as well
as the nominative.

Nouns in this declension may be masculine, feminine or neuter. Like the endings of the base, the gender
must be noted from the dictionary entries.

Nom sg

rex

pons

genus

homo

urbs

Gen sg

regis

pontis

generis

hominis

urbis

Dat sg

regī

pontī

generī

hominī

urbī

Acc sg

regem

pontem

genus

hominem

urbem

Abl sg

rege

ponte

genere

homine

urbe

Nom pl

regēs

pontēs

genera

hominēs

urbēs

Gen pl

regum

pontum

generum

hominum

urbium

Dat pl

regibus

pontibus

generibus

hominibus

urbibus

Acc pl

regēs

pontēs

genera

hominēs

urbēs

Abl pl

regibus

pontibus

generibus

hominibus

urbibus

9. The perfect forms of verbs.

The perfect system of verbs is parallel to the present system. It consists of the simple perfect,
the pluperfect or past perfect, and the future perfect, with indicative and subjunctive forms except
for the future perfect, and passive forms beside the active. In general it implies past time, often
with the meaning of completed action.

As the forms in these two units indicate, it is made in a variety of ways. In the first conjugation,
as well as the fourth, it is generally made with a -v- suffix and further endings. In the second
conjugation, and also the fourth, the marker is often -u-. The third conjugation verbs have a
variety of markers, among them -s-. The differences among verbs provide the reason for learning
the principal parts of verbs; these are generally included in dictionary entries. Examples are given
here of the verbs cited in the section 4 of the grammar as well as forms of dō and haereō.
Instead of the ending -erunt in the third plural, a short form -ere may be found, both
with long -e-.

1 sg

laudāvī

monuī

tēxī

audīvī

dedī

haesī

2 sg

laudāvistī

monuistī

texistī

audivīstī

dēdīstī

haesistī

3 sg

laudāvit

monuit

tēxit

audīvit

dēdit

haesit

1 pl

laudāvimus

monuimus

tēximus

audīvimus

dēdimus

haesimus

2 pl

laudāvistis

monuistis

tēxistis

audīvistis

dēdistis

haesistis

3 pl

laudāvērunt

monuērunt

tēxērunt

audīvērunt

dēderunt

haeserunt

10. Prepositions.

Most prepositions govern the accusative case, as do ad and apud found in these units,
as well as ante 'before', contra 'against', inter 'among', per 'through',
post 'after', trans 'across', and many others. In and sub 'under', however,
govern the accusative case when indicating direction, and the ablative when indicating place.